Seniors need to act if we want end of the year events back

Students of Gonzaga, lend me your eyes ...  As some of you have hopefully heard, some senior events (the fun ones) have been canceled this year. The Senior Ball, boat cruise, David's Pizza Night, and yes, Around the World will not be happening. Before you get all "Paul Revere" on the administration, let me first say that we had it coming. And when I say "we," you underclassmen, don't think that you aren't included in both the problem and, more importantly, the solution. Gonzaga's image in this community is not what it once was, or what we think it is. It's a pretty good indication that when the Knitting Factory (which hosts rock and hip hop shows) refuses to have us back for return business, we are doing something wrong.

The problem doesn't have a quick fix, unfortunately. One of the focal points that David Lindsay, director of Student Activities, made me aware of regarding the actions that have landed us in this sticky predicament is our generation's general entitlement. We have been labeled the "me generation," and I think that is an appropriate title. Our behavior in the past has been pretty selfish. Some of the stuff that happened at the senior rewind was outright ridiculous. Six thousand dollars of damages were accrued to one of the supervisors' car, some students broke into the kitchen and one of them even thought it would be a good idea to urinate in the dishwasher. I don't know what kind of upbringing these people had, but if my parents got a steaming e-mail informing them that I had pulled a stunt like that I would be back at home with a curfew.

But I digress, the important thing for us as a student body to recognize is that we have done some wrong, that classes in the past have done some wrong, and unfortunately the ax has come down this year; but let's do something about it. College opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for students, I for one haven't really taken advantage of that. However, I am fully prepared to get behind this movement and do some persuading. We have an opportunity to show this school that we are mature enough to celebrate with our friends, and can demonstrate the behavior to prove it. So what do we need to do to earn these privileges?  I have no clue, yet, but Gonzaga's cute little slogan is "educating people the world needs most," and if that's what we are supposed to be, we should be able to figure out how to exhibit behavior that proves that our precious tuition hasn't gone to waste.

There will be another forum this Friday, Nov.12 at 3 p.m. in the Wolff auditorium in Jepson; I think that would be a good start. We need to be productive, we need to be insightful, we need to be effective and we need to come up with a way to show our administrators that we deserve our privileges. But the first step is recognizing that we are in a hole, that we have done things to deserve to be in this hole, and that it's time to figure out how to get outta here.